How Hillary Clinton made history and became the first female nominee of either party - confounding the doubters

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Remember when the Democratic primary race was supposed to be dull? Nothing more than a procession leading to the inevitable coronation of Hillary Clinton as the second instalment of a political dynasty.

In the end, it was anything but easy as the same doubts – aloof, unlikeable, cold - that worked against her in 2008 came to the surface, combined with an email scandal and the sudden emergence of one the unlikeliest challengers imaginable.

It also means that her historic achievement as the first woman to become the nominee of one of the two major parties (assuming nothing changes before it is rubber stamped at the party convention next month) was earned the hard way.

Her team showed it had learned lessons from Barack Obama's upstart campaign, building a grassroots network, keeping the lid on infighting that caused her so many problems last time around and competing in every state no matter whether it was winnable or not.

Most important of all, however, was the principal (as Washington's political hacks are wont to say).

When things got tough, when conservatives were ganging up on her or when Bernie Sanders was threatening to engulf her with sheer momentum, Mrs Clinton rose to the occasion with a string of bravura performances.

In a Congressional committee room she endured 11 hours of intense and often hostile questioning over the 2012 attack in Benghazi that killed four Americans during her time as Secretary of State.

She has also understood the mood of the American electorate better than Bernie Sanders, her rival for the nomination.

While he promises a one-size fits all solution – ironing out the injustices of a rigged financial system - she has tailored her policies here and there to suit Latino and Black voters, acknowledging the identity politics in play.

So she shrewdly cast herself as a protector of Barack Obama's legacy, unlike Mr Sanders who promised to rip up Obamacare and start again. To Black voters, that sounded as if Mr Sanders was not interested in preserving the work of the country's first African-American president.

And this time around she has been more relaxed about playing the “women's card”. Although in recent weeks her campaign has played down the historic nature of her candidacy (rather assuming voters were well aware she was on track to become the first female president) it has not stopped her meeting mothers of gun victims or keeping up her demands for fair pay for women.